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Who else hates making small talk?

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Alucard

Banned
I hate small talk. I really do. It's just talking about random shit just to fill the spaces within a conversation and keeps you from talking about what you might really want to talk about. Then again you can learn little things about a person by listening to their small stories and such. I dunno...I guess I'd much rather discuss stuff like spirituality, the nature of reality, human emotions, and other things along those lines. But I know you can't always discuss those things so small talk is kind of necessary. Bleh.
 

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
I do, but mainly because I'm not good at it. I usually just respond a few times and then bail out by finding something to read or walking away...
 

Otaking

Member
Depends on what the small talk is about. If it's just pointless rambling, then STFU. But if it has importance and I can learn something from it, then please continue.
 

tt_deeb

Member
I really need to learn how to do small talk well. This girl I really want to get to know but I just don't know how to start any sort of conversation. She's only in my lunch room and she's always with other girls...

Small talk can be very helpful.
 

Alucard

Banned
Otaking said:
Depends on what the small talk is about. If it's just pointless rambling, then STFU. But if it has importance and I can learn something from it, then please continue.

I'll at least agree with you there. If I'm learning something then they can go on. If not then I often don't care. Meh. Maybe it's just because I don't think I'm very good at keeping a conversation going in the first place. Most of my responses are uninspired and stale. Or funny. Depends who I'm with and my level of comfort I guess.
 

Tabris

Member
Small talk is a very neccessary skill in business.

You may hate it, but you should definitely learn it.
 

Jak140

Member
Actually, I too used to hate small talk because it struck me as completely meaningless. Then I realized that if you put it in perspective, all conversation is meaningless in the long run since we're all going to be wiped out eventually anyway. So now I just hate it because I'm terrible at it.
 

GG-Duo

Member
I do.
I absolutely fucking despise it. I don't care about you. You don't care about me. Quit pretending to care. I don't mind if we skip over this stuff and just talk about personal details or strong opinions... but stop being such a keener and spout nonsense that forces me to produce a fake smile or fake laughter.

Small talk is a very neccessary skill in business.

You may hate it, but you should definitely learn it.

I hate business, too.
... but then again, my life SORTA forces me to deal with both. That is why I am ready to go back to school and try something else.
I'm just sick of some of the Commander Keens and this NETWORK bull.
 

DaCocoBrova

Finally bought a new PSP, but then pushed the demon onto someone else. Jesus.
I love it only because I'm so good at it. Allows me to deconstruct an individual almost immediately.
 

J2 Cool

Member
not if the small talk is sincere. If you talk because you decide to make small talk, then its bad. If you make small talk because you have something sincere to talk about that you applies to that person then its cool. Like, today, in school, I was sincerely wondering what this girl in the office was sitting there for. It just struck me, she's been sitting here a long time. So I asked her what it was for and she said ditching. I nodded and she told me how she usually parks across the street and leaves and they can't say anything but she parked on school grounds and left yesterday. That was actually a thing I didnt know. But from there it went to a lot of other shit. A good convo with someone I just met. So I made sure to say "later" when I left the office and she smiled and said bye.

Another girl also I seen drop something in the lost and found. I asked "doing your civic duty?" sarcastically and she laughed. Then we talked a bit. Real cute girl too who I seen later in the hall that day and got a smile. Another girl I asked if I could see her sketchbook and she showed me that. Then I showed her an art project I had with me and she was into videogames. Cool girl.

I personally just think the difference between meaningless small talk and good small talk is sincerity in your talk. Just say the real stuff that comes to you and not what you have to think up to talk about.
 

Mama Smurf

My penis is still intact.
Not me. I can talk to my best friend for hours at a time and at the end ask "...what the fuck have we just talked about?" I honestly wouldn't know most of the time, it would have been such pointless crap that I have no reason to remember it.

At the same time I love talking about deeper things in depth, as long as the other person can keep up (also as long as I can keep up with them, if I can't then that's just as bad).

I'm good at talking though, I'm always the one driving conversations forward. Sometimes I'm in a group of people and I swear to god, if I wasn't there they'd just be sitting in an uncomfortable silence. It's particularly noticeable talking one on one online to certain friends too. They start speaking to me, so obviously they want to talk, but I'm always the one who has to think of something else to talk about when a topic dries up.

You people who are no good at small talk suck :p No, I know it's not your fault, just the way you are.
 

impirius

Member
Flynn said:
Not me. How about this weather?
URRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH YOU'RE DRIVING ME INSANE STOP IT

I'm okay with small talk because most everyone around here follows South Carolina or Clemson football to some degree. I'm fine with talking sports.
 
Pleasant small talk beats that casual acquantance who likes to tell you how he tried to kill himself yesterday by overdosing. He's not even telling the truth! If he had actually tried he'd be in the hospital. How can you fail at killing yourself, anyway?
 

Chittagong

Gold Member
Small talk sucks. Because it does not exist in my country, all the work is done more efficiently (growth / GDP) and everyone gets 5 weeks summer holiday.

Saying even as much as "hi" when walking into the sauna at the gym is considered ackward, trying to start conversation is outright rude.
 

Flynn

Member
Seriously, small talk can help make life tolerable.

Ever see something funny as fuck while standing in line at the grocery store and notice that others saw it too?

Perfect opportunity to crack a joke or acknowledge the shared moment.

That's why society was created, so we don't have to feel alone all the damn time.

EDIT:

Also, small talk is the conversational equivilant of foreplay. This is when you warm 'em up and get 'em ready for some serious talking.
 

slayn

needs to show more effort.
people can "small talk" at me however much they want as long as they don't expect me to respond.

edit:

actually I like talking about stupid shit. What I consider small talk though, is stuff like weather, sports, school, life. I don't give a fuck about you. Shut up.

What I absolutely love though is arguments about such retarded topics that you can't believe you ever come to a conclusion. The kind of stuff that is done in Kevin Smith's movies. Like arguing over if a shapeshifter changed form female to male during sex, what happens to the guy's dick. That kind of stuff.
 

slayn

needs to show more effort.
Chittagong said:
Small talk sucks. Because it does not exist in my country, all the work is done more efficiently (growth / GDP) and everyone gets 5 weeks summer holiday.

Saying even as much as "hi" when walking into the sauna at the gym is considered ackward, trying to start conversation is outright rude.

what country? I wanna live there now...
 

Scorpion

Banned
I hate small talk but i'm forced into it because most people got this crazy idea that there is something wrong with silence.
 

etiolate

Banned
I'm not against talking. I'm against talking for no means other than social standards. It's like in A Beautiful Mind, I could buy a girl a drink, lie to her about a bunch of stuff and bullshit for an hour OR we could just say "hey are you attracted to me? Because I'm attracted to you." and then talk about something interesting.
 

Brannon

Member
I hate small talk but i'm forced into it because most people got this crazy idea that there is something wrong with silence.

We're on the same page, except I respond with a couple of mumbles and if they still try to talk about stuff I flip out my GBASP right then and there and tune them out incrementally until they GET THE DAMN POINT that some people are perfectly content with sitting or standing in a place and letting their mind wander. This is probably rude, but lately people have always been after SOMETHING, be it change, a lookout to help with fare evasion, to preach the word of God, to hock perfume/cologne; I don't fucking care. In a job where one has to get up at the buttcrack of dawn to endure running and yelling and OOH-RAH! and whole bunch of cadence, I value silence above all else.

Shut the fuck up you real-life telemarketers (Present company excluded; you guys are cool :p).
 

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
DJ Brannon said:
We're on the same page, except I respond with a couple of mumbles and if they still try to talk about stuff I flip out my GBASP right then and there and tune them out incrementally until they GET THE DAMN POINT that some people are perfectly content with sitting or standing in a place and letting their mind wander. This is probably rude, but lately people have always been after SOMETHING, be it change, a lookout to help with fare evasion, to preach the word of God, to hock perfume/cologne; I don't fucking care. In a job where one has to get up at the buttcrack of dawn to endure running and yelling and OOH-RAH! and whole bunch of cadence, I value silence above all else.

Shut the fuck up you real-life telemarketers (Present company excluded; you guys are cool :p).

I'm one of those people that is happy just sitting around with my thoughts. I only do the real small talk thing on interviews. I've actually had several jobs where I basically had to engage in small talk with random people. I felt like such a fake. Asking about their dog or kids when I really didn't care...

I try to avoid talking to people at the bus stop. They always want change or actually want me to give them money. Just yesterday this woman asked for change, and then said she needed to borrow money. She knew I had money because I pulled it out on her first request for change...I WAS TRAPPPED! I don't mind giving change, but no need for the bullshit mindgames.

I'm usually that loner guy at work. Nice, but I prefer to just eat lunch alone rather than sit with the big group of people I don't know. But I hate coming back from lunch and getting the "Where were you?" Then I explain I was outside eating and reading. Suddenly I'm some loser and everyone is like "Well you can sit with us next time." I know people are trying to be nice, but eugh. I hate pity, especially when it isn't called for. God only knows how I made the friends I have now. I guess I had 4 years of high school to find them. :lol
 

J2 Cool

Member
Cyan said:
No, we're not getting it on. Stop stalking me!

laugh.gif
 
I hate it when you have to make small-talk with a girl you met when you were drunk.

I'm extremely friendly, talkative, and charismatic when drunk, yet pretty shy when sober. So the whole time I'm small-talking I'm thinking that I should be saying more interesting and funny things, yet I'm wary of taking the risk of saying those things. I'm afraid that things I said drunk, wouldn't be socially acceptable for a sober guy to say.

So girls end up thinking I'm not interested in them, and that I'm a jerk, when in reality, I'm just a pussy.
 

robox

Member
i can't do it, but i don't mind it. i just fake an interest or something just to be polite. otherwise i'm not gonna instigate any kinda talk.
 

Mumbles

Member
I wouldn't say that I hate it, but that's mostly because I don't notice it. If it's not interesting, or if there's a decent pause, then I'll inevitably drift off into my own thoughts.

A lot of people hate trying to make small talk with me, though. They're waving their arms, poking me, yelling in my ear, clapping their hands - and ten seconds later, I've spaced out again.
 

Mama Smurf

My penis is still intact.
Oh I thought you guys meant small talk amongst friends or relatives or something. Yeah, I hate it with people I don't know, at bus stops or whatever.

It really doesn't happen that much in the UK though, we're quite unfriendly people for the most part. The only people who try to talk to me when I don't know them are lonely old people.

The exception is if I'm on a 5+ hour train journey or something on my own. That's a lot of time to sit with my thoughts. I can read a book for a while if I have one with me, but if there's a cute girl nearby, I'm gonna talk to her.
 

bjork

Member
With people I don't know, like in line at a grocery store, I don't care for it. But with someone I know and enjoy talking to, I like to hear pretty much anything and everything, it's just a matter of getting these people to loosen up and actually speak on things.
 
I'm bad at small talk. I'm a very self-conscious and introverted person, and I tend to pre-meditate most of my actions - so when someone unexpectedly starts talking to me (like in a que), I always have nothing to say.

On the other hand, I love to chat. I can talk for hours with my Mum, my little brother, my two best friends and my girlfriend. To a more forced extent, my sisters, my Dad and my wider group of friends.

I wish I was better at it.
 
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